How can I do a line break (line continuation) in Python?

Question

I have a long line of code that I want to break up among multiple lines. What do I use and what is the syntax?

For example, adding a bunch of strings,

Answer 1

If you want to break your line because of a long literal string, you can break that string into pieces:

long_string = "a very long string"
print("a very long string")

will be replaced by

long_string = (
  "a "
  "very "
  "long "
  "string"
)
print(
  "a "
  "very "
  "long "
  "string"
)

Output for both print statements:

a very long string

Notice the parenthesis in the affectation.

Notice also that breaking literal strings into pieces allows to use the literal prefix only on parts of the string and mix the delimiters:

s = (
  '''2+2='''
  f"{2+2}"
)

Answer 2

Use the line continuation operator i.e. "\"

Examples:

# Ex.1

x = 1
s =  x + x**2/2 + x**3/3 \
       + x**4/4 + x**5/5 \
       + x**6/6 + x**7/7 \
       + x**8/8
print(s)
# 2.7178571428571425


----------


# Ex.2

text = ('Put several strings within parentheses ' \
        'to have them joined together.')
print(text)


----------


# Ex.3

x = 1
s =  x + x**2/2 \
       + x**3/3 \
       + x**4/4 \
       + x**6/6 \
       + x**8/8
print(s)
# 2.3749999999999996

Answer 3

One can also break the call of methods (obj.method()) in multiple lines.

Enclose the command in parenthesis "()" and span multiple lines:

> res = (some_object
         .apply(args)
         .filter()
         .values)

For instance, I find it useful on chain calling Pandas/Holoviews objects methods.

Answer 4

Put a \ at the end of your line or enclose the statement in parens ( .. ). From IBM:

b = ((i1 < 20) and
     (i2 < 30) and
     (i3 < 40))

or

b = (i1 < 20) and \
    (i2 < 30) and \
    (i3 < 40)

Answer 5

From PEP 8 -- Style Guide for Python Code:

The preferred way of wrapping long lines is by using Python's implied line continuation inside parentheses, brackets and braces. Long lines can be broken over multiple lines by wrapping expressions in parentheses. These should be used in preference to using a backslash for line continuation.

Backslashes may still be appropriate at times. For example, long, multiple with-statements cannot use implicit continuation, so backslashes are acceptable:

with open('/path/to/some/file/you/want/to/read') as file_1, \
        open('/path/to/some/file/being/written', 'w') as file_2:
    file_2.write(file_1.read())

Another such case is with assert statements.

Make sure to indent the continued line appropriately. The preferred place to break around a binary operator is after the operator, not before it. Some examples:

class Rectangle(Blob):

    def __init__(self, width, height,
                 color='black', emphasis=None, highlight=0):
        if (width == 0 and height == 0 and
                color == 'red' and emphasis == 'strong' or
                highlight > 100):
            raise ValueError("sorry, you lose")
        if width == 0 and height == 0 and (color == 'red' or
                                           emphasis is None):
            raise ValueError("I don't think so -- values are %s, %s" %
                             (width, height))
        Blob.__init__(self, width, height,
                      color, emphasis, highlight)

PEP8 now recommends the opposite convention (for breaking at binary operations) used by mathematicians and their publishers to improve readability.

Donald Knuth's style of breaking before a binary operator aligns operators vertically, thus reducing the eye's workload when determining which items are added and subtracted.

From PEP8: Should a line break before or after a binary operator?:

Donald Knuth explains the traditional rule in his Computers and Typesetting series: "Although formulas within a paragraph always break after binary operations and relations, displayed formulas always break before binary operations"[3].

Following the tradition from mathematics usually results in more readable code:

# Yes: easy to match operators with operands
income = (gross_wages
          + taxable_interest
          + (dividends - qualified_dividends)
          - ira_deduction
          - student_loan_interest)

In Python code, it is permissible to break before or after a binary operator, as long as the convention is consistent locally. For new code Knuth's style is suggested.

[3]: Donald Knuth's The TeXBook, pages 195 and 196

Answer 6

The danger in using a backslash to end a line is that if whitespace is added after the backslash (which, of course, is very hard to see), the backslash is no longer doing what you thought it was.

See Python Idioms and Anti-Idioms (for Python 2 or Python 3) for more.